flyboy
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posted September 19, 2007 11:28 AM
 Edited By: frEEk on 28 Sep 2007 08:25
Bonneville 2007 - Part 2
I'm sorry for the delay of Part 2. I came home from Bonneville exhausted, rested up one day, then spent the whole next day flying around searching for Steve Fossett. Between the two events my body said no more and put me in bed for about a weekÂ
Bonneville- Part 2
Sometimes one can make all the preparations in the world for a motorcycle event but if nature does not cooperate then all that preparation would have been in vain. For the last month or two it had been raining in the high desert of Bonneville and the BUB Speed Trials were only given a go-a-head only a week before the event. I arrived at the salts with probably 235 RWH (225 hp + 10hp ram air effect) and was eager to "fly"... until I arrived there and discovered this year's salt. Instead of finding it hard and smooth like the salts of 2006, this year's surface was thick, flaky and slippery.
The condition of the salt was first revealed to all on Sunday when the World Record setting streamliner "Ack Attack" took to the course and began to accelerate.
It should be noted that this photo of Ack was taken last year. Notice how hard and smooth the salt was.
As it went through the timed mile at around 298 mph, the back of the vehicle began fishtailing back and forth and before you knew it, went down in the salt and tumbled over and over.
Photo by Claude McKee
Luckily the driver Rocky, although shaken, came out all right with just a few scratches. Was this a sign of things to come?
Monday came the day when I was already to do my thing. My goals were a constant spray of 20 seconds and a speed of 220 mph in the Modified Partial Streamline configuration. Unfortunately Monday also found a great deal of riders at the salts. In 2006 we had a total of 230 riders but Monday brought out 300 riders in just that one day. Apparently Land Speed Racing at Bonneville has caught on around the world and riders came out of the wood works. Adding to the pressure of getting in runs was the fact that thunderstorms were expected the next two days and there might not be any runs taking place Tuesday and/or Wednesday.
Rolling out to pre-stage.
Because of Ack Attack's crash and the bad reports of the salt I had to rethink my strategy. My initial plans were to do two runs without nitrous just to get some numbers in the book but considering the pressure of not getting in a lot of runs I decided to go all out on my first run for I might not get another chance.
As I stood ready at the starting line I kept thinking about the nitrous. I had never used it except on a dyno and I began to wonder how it would affect the characteristics of the bike handling at 195 mph when I would begin my spray? And now, with the slushy salt-- would activating the jets cause any disruption in the balance or handling characteristics of the speeding bike? Because all the additional power went to the rear wheel in a lateral direction I felt directional stability would not be compromised. At this time I was given the green flag and kicked my bike into first gear. I began my run down the salt and slowly picked up speed. Last year it was easy to go down the salt because all you had to do was raise up on your toes, lift your butt off the seat, hold your arms in tight and tilt your head into the depths of your windscreen. This year I found myself sitting squarely on the bike, leaning forward and my head upright for two reasons, 1) I had to count the flags/miles and 2) I wasn't sure what force the nitrous would have on my bike when activated and I didn't want to be raised up on my toes when this happened. My goal was to start the nitrous a quarter mile before the beginning of the timed mile feeling the nitrous would purged and be 100% active as I entered the timed mile. Mile 2 flags went past me in a blur and I was still accelerating although the back of the bike began to fish tail a bit. By the beginning of mile 3 I was a full speed and looking for that third green flag which would signify a quarter mile before mile 4, the timed mile.
I hit my horn button as I pasted the flag. Immediately the bike kicked forward but it's stability became compromised and that solid feeling lost. I continued applying the nitrous continuously which seemed to last a full 20 seconds until it turned off. Whether the nitrous solenoid froze or not, I do not know but I considered a 20 second continuous use a win in my game plan. After pulling into the impound area and dismounting my bike I eagerly walked over to get my speed ticket. Looking at it, I shook my head in dismay. My speed was only 191 mph. It was the salt and there was nothing I could do about it. My crew had watched my approach going into the mile and told me when I applied the nitrous the salt suddenly came spitting out behind me four feet high like I was a speed boat on a country lake. At this time I felt a return run would be wasted effort for we were carrying too much horsepower, which unfortunately activated too quickly. A few months back I thought about adding a progressive nitrous controller to my arsenal which would have activated the nitrous in stages but even this salt would not have been able to handle that. We decided to pack up camp and head back to the hotel for some beer. The clouds were getting dark and the weather was moving in.
Arriving at the salt the next morning at 6:15 am we encountered the area around Bonneville dotted with small thunderstorms passing in and about. Sprinkles of rain fell periodically and all we could do was wait in our cars and trailers hoping the weather would clear.
By noontime the sun broke out to cheers and once again we could get serious. To achieve better traction I let air out of my back tires and went to the smallest jets I had on hand to reduce my horsepower. For those wondering I went from 22 (fuel)/18 (nitrous) to 18 (fuel)/16 (nitrous). My game plan was now to achieve full speed by mile 3, reduce throttle by 1,000 RPM mile 3.5, activate nitrous at mile 3.75 and slowly increase throttle to WOT by the start of mile 4. As I drove out to the beginning of mile 1 to set up for my run, my rear wheel spun on the salt going only 35 mph. Apparently the sprinkles had made the salt ever slicker. As I went down the run a while later, I did everything according to game plan. Unfortunately, as I applied the nitrous and accelerated to WOT the back of the bike began fishtailing back and forth. I would take my thumb off the nitrous and then apply it again but the back wheel would start moving back and forth again. I went into impound and got my ticket. 185 mph. Unfortunately this wasn't my year.
Word spread about the salt getting worst and one Swiss bikers attached two 25 lb barbells to the back of his rear axle just outside his wheel. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera to take a shot.
The day after I left a beautiful girl named Leslie (above) out of Texas, went down on her Turbo Busa while going through the mile at around 198 mph. She broke a number of ribs and punctured a lung but looks forward to racing again soon. Maybe I left the salts at just the right time. Here she is pictured with the first Turbo BMW..., which didn't go that fast because of their direct-drive.
All and all it was Bonneville and fun. Not 2006 fun but only a little fun. Saw old friends and met new ones. Unfortunately the BUB event has gotten too popular and there were too many people wanting to run their bikes. I'm recommending to the organizers that they handle it more like a golf course. People book their tee times way in advance and then if anyone shows up at the last minute... put them on the "run what you bung" course. You can't have people traveling half way around the World and then only get in one or two runs a day. The fastest bike at the event was a Turbo Busa that went 241 mph. BUB's streamliner, the "World's Fastest Motorcycle" didn't even make a run, the conditions were that bad. The fastest Zx-14 only went 187 mph.
There are a number of people I would like to thank for helping me with my nitrous as I was a nitrous virgin only three months ago. To dubious, smokinzx14 and kawracer... thank you very much. I'd also like to thank GOODIES Speed Shop out of San Jose, the best speed shop in the Bay area, for sponsoring me with their outstanding equipment and services. I'd also like to thank Nick at Schnitz and the good people at NOS for their help. My bike was equipped with Ceramic Bearings on both wheels and I visually saw the difference in the reduction of friction as I spun the tires with my hands so I recommend them in wholeheartedly. I would never had made it onto the salts without my good friend and mechanic Richard Oliveira, owners of Cycle Imports in Soquel, California who installed a dynamite nitrous system in my bike. This man is the main reason for my 2006 records and I consider him the best bike mechanic on the West Coast. Sadly, Richard was unable to make it with me to the Salts this year but I was fortunate enough to get a good friend and mechanic, Matt Maroot from Los Angeles to go who did an outstanding job during the week. Thanks Matt. Lastly I like to thank Dale Walker, eight time National Drag Champion, for introducing me into the exciting world of nitrous with his expertise.
One additional note to my fellow racers, I ran a 17 front, 39 rear sprocket. In 2006 I was only able to reach 10,200 rpm (tach reading) or 9,800 rpm (real reading) due to the density altitude at the time of roughly 6,700 feet. This time with the use of the nitrous the tach needle kept bouncing off 11,000 rpm. Yes, the power was there for some potential exciting speed numbers.
Below are some of the interesting bikes that made it to BUB this year.
An interesting sidecar
A fast scooter.
She's going to have a problem with aerodynamics.
This is a diesel bike built for the Marines. It gets 102 mpg.
This was one of the two bikes brought over from Switzerland. Note the three cylinders. There are only twelve three-cylinder bikes in the world.
Here is your typical turbo Busa used in Land Speed Racing. There is really no seat and you sit down on the frame.
And last but not least... No one broke any of my four Land Speed Records. The ZX-14 is still that fastest production motorcycle in the World.
The Kid.
____________
'There's more living in five minutes flat-out on a bike than some men have in an entire life'.
"The World's Fastest Indian"
One fast red ZX-14,
Three World and four National Land Speed Records,
One faster red and white Cessna Turbo 210
   
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TG1820
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posted September 19, 2007 12:06 PM
Awesome!!!
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entropy
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posted September 19, 2007 12:12 PM
flyboy,
Your writing is a true pleasure to read; your pix are 110%, EXCELLENT!!!
Thanks a million 
BTW; special thanks for including the cleavage  ; nice touch, so to speak.
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This moderator uses moderation in moderation
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lucky14
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posted September 19, 2007 01:11 PM
GREAT WRITEUP!
Thanks. 
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Halvefast
Zone Head
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posted September 19, 2007 02:36 PM
Bravo, you could have a career in journalism. Nice job on staying up right,
better to back away and live to fight another day.
Sucks you had to go all that way to have crappy conditions.
One plus is you know you have a solid set-up, ready for next time.
Pictures are spectacular, I gotta make that trip at least once.
Thanks again for the write-up.
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ZX11D
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posted September 19, 2007 02:46 PM
Great story and pics of some really unique machinery
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'94 ZX-11
'07 ZX-14
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Stage XXX Mr Turbo ZX14
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posted September 19, 2007 03:37 PM
Very nice pictures, sounds like it was a handful - - - good job staying upright
XXX
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Tool man
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posted September 19, 2007 04:00 PM
Thank You ... VERY COOL !!
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The banks are failing..
The banks are failing...
Invest in Ammo
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BobC
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posted September 20, 2007 12:32 AM
As ever, a superb read Flyboy and excellent images. As least you still have your records and when the conditions are right for someone to challenge them you will be there too.
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smokinzx14
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posted September 20, 2007 08:01 AM
Cool Flyboy ....You are the man !!!! You make me want to give it a try one day .....It seems it's much like drag racing ..... Some days are just better than others , some days the track sucks and no matter what you do you just go slow...But you keep coming back in hopes of a better day because we love it so much.....If there is a good thing about a bad track it's that everybody will have the same problems trying to go fast ....Keep up the good work Flyboy , we know you will set more speed records in the years to come ...Smokin..
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Smokin Performance Cycles..
Tampa Bay , FL .. Brocks Performance Dealer ..
Gen 2 ZX14R Best ET 8.43 , Best MPH 164.95
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LawyerA
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posted September 20, 2007 03:26 PM
Flyboy: Your detailed pictures and narratives really explain the effort and attention to detail
it takes to prepare a bike for the salt flats. This question shows my ignorance, but I was wondering where your fuel jets are plugged in to spray in your wet nitrous system. Also did
you have to add one, two, whatever, fuel pumps? That VMI sticker adds real class..CID '81.
LawyerA
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1adam12
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posted September 20, 2007 04:09 PM
NICE!!!
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osti33
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posted September 20, 2007 09:27 PM
Great write up and pictures. Thanks for sharing it!!
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flyboy
Pro
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posted September 20, 2007 09:54 PM
quote:
Flyboy: Your detailed pictures and narratives really explain the effort and attention to detail
it takes to prepare a bike for the salt flats. This question shows my ignorance, but I was wondering where your fuel jets are plugged in to spray in your wet nitrous system. Also did
you have to add one, two, whatever, fuel pumps? That VMI sticker adds real class..CID '81.
LawyerA
In regard to placement of jets you might want to read Part 1 at
http://www.bikeland.org/board/viewthread.php?FID=27&TID=33895&set_time=
One other question was asked regarding protective tops for the nitrous bottles. Yes they are required at Bonneville and I got a pair at Schnitz. In case you "crash and burn" they want to make sure that the tops of the bottle or any of the hardware does not break off.
Lawyer A thanks, and I'm sorry but what do CID stand for?
____________
'There's more living in five minutes flat-out on a bike than some men have in an entire life'.
"The World's Fastest Indian"
One fast red ZX-14,
Three World and four National Land Speed Records,
One faster red and white Cessna Turbo 210
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